Malfoy on the Marriage Market
by Prieda Solo
Summary: Malfoy reaches marrying age. His father's found someone, but he's not too keen on her. This is not really romance, just me having fun with the Malfoy family.
1. They Gave Each Other A Pledge

Disclaimer: The characters and storyline of Harry Potter are the property of J.K Rowling. I make no money from this work of fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

Malfoy on the Marriage Market

"I will not be spoken to like that!"

Malfoy dropped his gaze to the floor, "Sorry father."

"Besides, I thought you liked the girl. You were at school together after all."

Malfoy wondered how to explain that attending the odd dance with a girl does not imply you will enjoy a future of marital harmony together. "I would prefer…" he began, his eyes flickering over his fathers face looking for the warning signs, "Not to marry her."

There was silence. Malfoy could hear his heart hammering.

His father turned away to stare out of the window. "She's rich, she's pureblood, and she's quite a nice looking little thing. What exactly do you object too? Besides," He glanced back at the sullen looking boy, "You won't have to spend all that much time with her. And you never know, you might fall in love."

Another silence filled the room.

Mr Malfoy stared down at his son thinking: _Where did I go wrong? Nineteen years and I've ended up with a smooth oily little bastard with delusions of grandeur and an obsession with money. Nothing I'd be proud to call a son."_

"Father?"

"Mmm?" He was shaken out of his thoughts.

"She…uh…she has a younger sister."

"Ah. You want the sister." _Sneaky little devil. I've probably been far too lenient with him. I'm fairly sure he could've done with a few more thrashings as a boy. Too late now of course._

"Yes." Malfoy nodded. So far this seemed to be going well, his father didn't look to angry about it.

"Wasn't she a blood-traitor."

"That was the middle sister. I am talking of the youngest. I would not dream of marrying a blood traitor, naturally."

_I bet you wouldn't._ Mr Malfoy thought, _nothing to spoil your precious reputation. _Aloud he added, "Young Narcissa, eh?"

"Yes father."

"Well." Mr Malfoy considered, "If you'd prefer her to Bellatrix I see no problem. Same family after all."

"Narcissa at least is not obviously raving mad." Lucius murmered, then saw the expression on his fathers face, "Ah…yes Sir. Same family."

_And if I ever have a son_, Luciusthought as he left his fathers study, the wedding agreed upon, _he can damn well marry who he wants!_

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Heh. The idea of Abraxus trying to force in a Bella/Lucius was just to evil to miss :p

Please tell me what you thought of it. I honestly don't mind any sort of criticism (I love getting mail D )


	2. We Do Not Ask For Your Permission

Disclaimer: The characters and storyline of Harry Potter are the property of J.K Rowling. I make no money from this work of fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

Malfoy on the Marriage Market-2

"I will not be spoken to like that!"

Malfoy dropped his gaze to the floor, "Sorry father."

Lucius sighed, and turned to gaze out of the window. "It's not so much who she is Draco, it's just..." He paused, trying to work out what it was about Draco's sudden proposition that angered him, "You might have told me earlier."

_You might have let me have some say in the matter. My bride was chosen for me. Obviously, it is your right to choose, but I would have preferred you to have chosen from a choice of my selection._

"She is pureblood." Draco said sulkily, "I thought that was all that mattered to you."

"Yes, she's just…" _Mad? Insane? No one I even considered?_ "Am I not to have any say in your marriage Draco?"

Their eyes met. Draco concentrated, and caught the tail end of a thought in his father's mind, a thought that shocked him:

_I'm his father. I should at least help him decide._

"Draco, I'm your father." Lucius stopped, aware that Draco's face had gone pale. "What is it?"

"Is this all it's about?" Draco fought hard to keep the sneer out of his voice, "You just want to be _important_."

"Draco…"

"It is, isn't it father? Or perhaps you've forgotten that Aunty Bella taught me Occlumency. This has nothing to do with whether I love Luna, or whether she's pureblood, or whether her stupid father fought with Harry Potter or Him. It's about you. You want to feel needed. You want to feel you're still worth something."

"Draco…" It wasn't a command any more, it was a whisper, a plea.

Draco's heart was hammering. Part of him was flying high, everything he'd ever wanted to say for years, pouring out of him. Part of him was curled up in a corner whimpering, and wondering how he could dare say these things to his father.

"You aren't. You're worth nothing to anybody. Don't you understand?" He was almost shouting now. "You picked the wrong side, and you dragged me into it, and you _lost_ father. Nothing you've done in your life matters any more."

He paused for breath. Lucius looked up at him, managing to raise an eyebrow. "Have you quite finished?"

Draco shook his head, mutinous. He couldn't talk for fear he'd explode with the thoughts inside him, one thought particularly that kept resurfacing, running white hot lines through his brain:

_You're pathetic. I always looked up to you and now look at you. You don't even matter to me. I used to worship you father, and now you've let me down. I never realised you were this…weak._

"What if I don't give my permission?" Lucius asked, coldly scanning his son's face for a reaction.

Draco gave a half-shrug. "I don't need your permission any more."

Lucius paused, then heaved a sigh. He felt tired, tired and old. He'd lost his credibility, his job, his mansion, a lot of his money, and now he'd lost his son as well. Yet somehow, it barely mattered any more. Since Narcissa's death, very few things had.

"Very well Draco." He waved a hand irritably. "Marry whoever you want. Marry a mudblood," He was secretly pleased when Draco shuddered slightly at that, "Marry a werewolf, marry a giant for all I care. Just, why her?"

"Because I love her." Draco said bluntly. It wasn't the true answer, but the true answer was private:

_The war was over, all was well, except the Malfoy's were suddenly outcasts, everyone who'd supported Him was. Draco hadn't noticed, because his world was still madness, the madness of pain and death and having to do desperate, terrible things again and again._

_There had been no escape from it. No way out, no one to talk to._

_And then there was her._

_She was mad, or they said she was. And people looked at her strangely too, and didn't ask her to places, and became embarrassed when she spoke. But she didn't mind him, and she'd given him an apple and talked to him. She'd led him out of his madness and into hers, which was safer and warmer, and beautiful._

_Half of what she said didn't make sense. But he was tired of things that made sense._

_Luna Lovegood. Soon to be Luna Malfoy. _

Lucius gave a small cough. "Love doesn't always last."

"Not like tattoos." Draco said brutally. And walked out.

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Nope, I don't like this one. But I wanted to get Scorpio's up, and needed a Draco.Lucius one to make it work out.


	3. A New World

Disclaimer: The characters and storyline of Harry Potter are the property of J.K Rowling. I make no money from this work of fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.

Malfoy on the Marriage Market-2

"I will not be spoken to like that!"

Malfoy sneered at his father, "Why not?"

Draco took a deep calming breath, "I am your father, I would have thought you would respect that."

"Why." Scorpius challenged, "You don't respect me. You haven't since I started at Hogwarts."

"That was understandable." Draco said coldly.

"Why? Hufflepuff's the coolest house, everyone knows that. Asp's in Hufflepuff, if I'd gone to Slytherin I might never have known him."

Draco tried desperately to keep control. "Scorpius, I have no objection to you getting married. But…not her. Please."

"Why not?" Scorpius grinned at him, "I love her. And Asp thinks it's cool."

"You know I don't approve of your friendship with 'Asp'." Draco scowled at the stupid affected nickname.

"That's what I mean! You don't approve of me being in Hufflepuff, you don't approve of my best friend, you didn't approve of my choices of subjects, why should I care that you 'don't approve' of me marrying Rose Weasley."

Draco swallowed, watching his world fall apart. "She's a half-blood!"

"So? Nobody cares about that stuff anymore. Noone except you and granddad and a couple of other old weirdoes who still remember all that crap about Voldemort."

Draco winced at the name, trying desperately to think of a way to pull apart this threatened union of the houses of Weasley and Malfoy "But…but…what does _her_ father think of it?"

Scorpio sniggered, "He had a fit. And Asp told_ his _parents and Mrs Potter almost fainted."

"So obviously, the wedding is off."

"Well, not really."

"Scorpio surely if neither her father nor yours give permission, then surely…"

"Father, you don't get it." Scorpio looked a little awkward. "We love each other, and we really, _really_ don't care about what you think. You, and Mr Weasley, and even Mr Potter, you're all obsessed with blood and families. You're living in a world that doesn't exist any more."

"Scorpius I _forbid_ you…"

"Save your breath father, we got married last week."

"!"

He sighed at the expression on his father's face. "We knew none of you would like it. We figured it was best to sort things out on our own."

Draco stood still, his eyes popping slightly, his mouth opening and closing.

"Asp was best man." Scorpius added unhelpfully. "He made a speech. And he said he's going to change his name before _he_ gets married, because he doesn't want his future wife to know his real name is Albus Severus…"

"You've married her." Draco managed to get out.

"Mum didn't mind. I told her this morning, and she thought it was great. Rose's mum was one of her best friends when she was at school."

Draco felt another little leaden weight drop into his heart. It had all started going wrong when the boy went to Hogwarts. Scorpius had left home a quiet, conscientious boy, with a full understanding of his place as a pureblood and a Malfoy. Draco had come to meet him for the Christmas holiday and been shocked to find himself enthusiastically introduced to "Asp, my new best friend, his real names Albus Potter, but he thinks that's stupid and he's in Hufflepuff too…"

He'd caught Harry's eye and for the first time ever the two had shared a common thought. It went like this:

_Hufflepuff? Best friend?_

"You've married her." There didn't seem anything else left to say. He wondered whether to try to break the news to Lucius. That his son had married Rose Weasley, that they'd lost a child to…hold on…

"So she's Rose Malfoy now?"

"Yes." Scorpius looked slightly taken aback by the change of tone."

"So…we haven't lost. They have. A Weasley has been turned into a Malfoy!"

Scorpius stared at him. Half amused, half worried. It was sad, that's what it was, how much all the parents cared.

"Whatever father. Whatever you want to think." Scorpius gave a sneer, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a life to get on with."

He left, thinking, _why can't they just let us marry who we want?_

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Yay for Scorpius! And Asp! (Albus Severus Potter, for those who didn't work that out). C'mon, they had to be in Hufflepuff, after all Harry's "Now we don't mind what house you're in, Slytherin is just as good as Gryffindor" can you_ imagine_ his _face _when his son goes to Hufflepuff?

I so enjoyed writing this. Even though, yeah, it's not really all that good.

Now I have to go write some notes on PCR. And Acute Inflammation. Whee!

For those who were wondering, the chapter headings are from the musical Fiddler on the Roof has sudden disturbing vision of Lucius spinning Narcissa around singing 'Miracle of Miracles'.

Yeah…


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